On December 28, the Top Ten Athletes of China in 2021 selected by the Sports Department of Xinhua News Agency were released. It is worth noting that for many years, some people have entered the top ten Chinese women's volleyball team, and for the first time, no one has been selected.
Yang Qian
The top 10 athletes in 2021 are: Yang Qian, China's first gold medalist and shooter at the Tokyo Olympics; Su Bingtian, a male sprinter who made history at the Tokyo Olympics; Shi Tingmao, a diver who won two gold medals in the women's 3m board and doubles at the Tokyo Olympics; Ma Long, a table tennis champion who defended the men's singles champion at the Tokyo Olympics; Gong Lijiao, an athletics athlete who won the women's shot put championship at the Tokyo Olympics with a time of 20 meters 58 meters; and Gu Ailing, the world champion of freestyle skiing Lu Xiaojun, winner of the men's weightlifting 81 kg category at the Tokyo Olympics; Zhang Yufei, a swimmer who won two golds and two silver medals at the Tokyo Olympics; Wang Shun, who won gold in the 200-meter medley at the Tokyo Olympics; and Chen Yufei, the women's singles champion in badminton at the Tokyo Olympics.
The selection of China's top ten athletes began in 1979. Since its inception, the Chinese women's volleyball team, which has great influence and high popularity in the minds of the Chinese people, has become a regular visitor to the top ten athletes. Although there are occasional years in which the women's volleyball players are lost, the interval will not be too long. Lang Ping, former head coach of the Chinese women's volleyball team and the world-renowned "iron hammer", has been selected as one of the top ten more than once during his athlete period.
Zhu Ting has been selected for many consecutive years
From the perspective of recent years, from 2014 to 2021, in addition to the suspension of various competitions due to the epidemic in 2020, and the top ten athletes were not selected, a total of seven top ten athletes were selected. In these seven sessions, in addition to this year, the other six have the figure of Chinese women's volleyball players. Among them, Zhu Ting of the Chinese women's volleyball team was elected for five consecutive terms from 2014 to 2018, and the Chinese women's volleyball team was elected collectively in 2019 with the first place vote. Therefore, Zhu Ting is also the first time in the past seven sessions that she has not won the top ten.
Zhu Ting in the game
The reason why the members of the Chinese women's volleyball team lost the top ten is largely related to the defeat of this year's Tokyo Olympic Games. The Chinese women's volleyball team, which originally aimed to defend its title, ranked fifth in the group stage of the Tokyo Olympic Games with 5 wins, 2 wins and 3 losses, and was directly out of the group. It should be said that this result was unexpected, and it is normal to lose this year's top ten. With the background of the Chinese women's volleyball team, I believe that in next year's top ten selection, there will be a figure of women's volleyball players. Let's look forward to it!